The 2014 Portland Boulder Rally went down this past Saturday night at the brand new Circuit Gym in Tigard, Oregon, and for the second straight year it was Alex Puccio and Jimmy Webb taking the title.

Leading into finals the biggest news seemed to be who wasn’t going to be in finals. Climbers like Daniel Woods, Rob D’Anastasio, Vasya Vorotnikov and Michael O’Rourke all competed on the men’s side but failed to make it out of what was an extremely competitive men’s field. Instead we were going to see some more unfamiliar, yet very capable, climbers with the likes of Matt Fultz, Sean Bailey and Elan Jonas-Mcrae making finals for the men and Shannon Russell joining a very tough women’s field of finalists.

This setup an interesting final for both the men and the women, but in the end Jimmy Webb and Alex Puccio came out and blew the doors off the place with tops on all four of the finals problems – Webb flashed all four while Puccio “struggled” in “only” flashing two of the four1 – to easily claim victory.

You can watch a full replay of finals here. Here are the full results:

Congratulations to Jimmy Webb and Alex Puccio on their victories, and thanks again to the Circuit for having me out to this year’s Portland Boulder Rally!

How about Peter Dixon’s top of the wall traverse?! Good on him for knowing the rules of the comp and going for it when $10,000 are on the line. I’m glad it didn’t affect his standing, as he had a flash over all of the other non-bearded competitors. That would’ve been really sucky for the route setters. But I wonder if any other competitors thought of it or even considered it. Or if it pissed them off when they found out about it. Probably not, but you never know. Do whatcha gotta do at a professional comp.

I’m still not sure I agree with that ruling, regardless of what the rules were or were not. It should be pretty obvious that the top of the wall, much like the floor, is not on. Ultimately it didn’t matter in the end results so I guess it’s just a learning experience for the routesetters and the climbers.

I believe they taped parts of Men’s 1 as off, so that the climbers wouldn’t do exactly that, grab the lip and traverse. I’m surprised they didn’t think about that with the other problems? It looked like that technique would have been the way to go on Women’s 3 as well (I couldn’t see from where I was standing if it was taped off or not.)

In a Euro comp where every problem ends with matching on a finish hold, yes, it should be obvious that the lip is off. In a comp where some problems end by topping out, some with finish holds, and without any observation period, then no, the setters should not assume that the difference will be obvious to all competitors.

Like every pro hockey player has a beard, and many baseball players and football QB’s are eventually sporting face sweaters. ONE pro boulderer is habitually bearded, and he crushes all smooth of chins in comps. JW’s “secret” isn’t too hard to figure out. The word of the Lord
-j

I’m sorry, but the whole conversation of whether or not Ashima should be able to compete based on her age is ridiculous. The best climbers should be able to compete, and win,..period. If Alex Johnson has her ego hurt by this, too bad.

I don’t necessarily disagree with what you said, but what about, for example, the age requirements for gymnastics? Should we allow people of any age to compete in the Olympics?

The rules were put in place (I think) to 1) level the playing field (young gymnasts are lighter, potentially more fearless, etc.), and 2) protect younger competitors from potential injury. I’m not sure which side of the debate I’m on, but there seems to be valid arguments both for and against allowing younger athletes to compete.

I know climbing comps are not the Olympics, but I think the arguments are still valid, especially if people want climbing to still be in the Olympics (which is a different debate altogether).

I would guess Ashima has advantages and disadvantages in comps with adults. She seems to hold her own though and will more than likely be a contributer to the sport down the road. No one complains about Kai